Second Chances
by CaptainLunaBelle
Summary: They were two separate people living separate lives; that is, until life pulled them together. Regina would say that it was fate or destiny, and Emma would blame it on luck. Despite their arguments, there was one thing that they agreed on: It had all started with Henry.


**AN:** Hello there! So this is my first Swan Queen fanfiction, and so far, I'm rather content with how it's turning out. Although I'm still convinced, after countless hours of going over this little bit of the story, that there are dozens of mistakes and that I shouldn't be publishing this. This is not my first fanfiction, or even my first OUAT fanfiction, but I've deleted every one of my old stories because they were all rubbish. This is definitely an AU story, where Emma is nearly eighteen and Regina is twenty-four, and there is no magic and no curse. I was originally going to post the prologue and first chapter together, but I got impatient and could no longer fight the urge to upload. The first chapter will be up soon and I hope that you guys will give this story a chance.**  
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Also, despite the rating, there will be no graphic sexual content in this story. Trust me, nobody wants to see me try to write anything like that. The rating is simply because of language and scenes that do not fit into the T rating.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own OUAT or any of the characters.

I'd really appreciate if you reviewed after reading because reviews are wonderful.

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**Prologue**

Regina Mills never thought it possible to fall in love again.

For most of her life, she lived blissfully unaware of both the benefits and the consequences that came with being in love. She knew that she loved her mother and her father, and that was all she had needed for the longest time.

In her mind, love was something that existed only in romance novels. People didn't just lock eyes from across a crowded room and fall in love at first sight. Things like that just did not really happen.

Everything changed during the winter of her sixteenth year. She'd allowed herself to fall for _him_, and for two years, she was living her favourite romance novels. _He _would watch her ride horses for what seemed like hours and then kiss her in the stables. For Regina, it was absolute perfection; there was no doubt in her mind that they would stay together forever. _He _had kissed her in the rain on graduation day, and the following Saturday, she had cried as they laid him six feet under.

Regina Mills would not fall in love. She was finally happy and successful, and she was not willing to throw all that away for another heartbreak.

...

Emma Swan vowed that she would never fall in love again.

Love was just a word that people threw around as carelessly as any other. Teenagers would claim they were in love after two weeks of being together and some couples would get married after knowing each other for mere hours because they believed that they were in love. But love was a stupid concept and all it ever resulted in was heartbreak.

She had spent seventeen years learning that love was the most beautiful feeling in the world, so of course she had come to desire that feeling. She'd gotten to experience those butterflies in her stomach when _he _was around, and the comfort that came with having _his_ arms wrapped around her at night. Falling in love was a beautiful thing, and it came so easily.

Falling out of love hurt more than any physical pain she had experienced. None of the books or movies had described the pain and anguish of heartbreak. There was no mention of the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when _he_ cancelled plans because _he_ was "sick" for the fourth weekend in a row. And she had certainly never anticipated the crushing weight on her chest when _he_ ignored six phone calls only to call back and tell her that _he _had fallen out of love.

Emma Swan would not fall in love. It was a stupid emotion that only resulted in her getting hurt, and now she was homeless, jobless and hopeless.

...

They were both so sure that they had received their one shot at love and failed miserably. After all, if movies and fairy tales had taught them anything, it's that you get one true love in your lifetime. But those were just stories with the endings already planned out, while life was so much more complicated and the endings went unplanned and unexpected.

Regina never meant to fall in love. She had never expected that one simple handshake and a friendly welcome would lead to so much more.

Emma definitely hadn't planned on falling in love. It took four goodbyes for her to cut love out of her life; it took only one hello for her to welcome love back like an old friend.

They were two separate people living separate lives; that is, until life pulled them together. Regina would say that it was fate or destiny, and Emma would blame it on luck. Despite their arguments, there was one thing that they agreed on:

It had all started with Henry.

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**AN: **I hope that you've enjoyed the prologue so far, and I promise that it will get much better once the actual story begins. Make sure to leave a review and let me know what you're thinking. :)


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